Felicity

I enjoyed this mostly - not for the sex scenes which were par for the course, but as a 70s time capsule. I liked the protagonist, Felicity- she was pretty but not gorgeous, naive but sexy too. The story was a bit silly but I enjoyed the scenes in Hong Kong, especially the contrast between the rich and touristy areas and the poor people living on the water. I imagine too that girls and women would have been treated in ways portrayed here in the late 1970s (I was a child then). In all, it was a decent watch, mainly as a kind of snapshot of those days - I also liked the clothes! I gave a reasonable 6 stars out of 10.

With no knowledge of what to expect from this film but reading the plot description and having somewhat of an idea, it was certainly more explicit than it presented itself as. There is very much a plot but perhaps a lot more explicit and nude scenes than ought to be. It is very much a coming of age film with the lead title character of Felicity having a very quick sexual awakening.

Everything felt as it, it occurred quite quickly and very easy for Felicity. Where at an instance she was raped by her older driver yet didn't seem to care, notice or tell her friend. The sceneries of Hong Kong look well and are nicely shot. The way she randomly met the love interest in the end was rather odd yet plausible. Right place at the right time type of incident. A lot of the film is quite predictable with the change of an innocent young naive teenager (said to be 17) transformed to very eager craved. The film is very close to soft core but it's presented in a rather art house way.

I wonder if the reviewers who raved about how they loved it when they were 13 years old, have seen this one in the last 25 years. Being addicted to late 70's/80's soft-core of the "Emmanuelle" variety, i had to hunt this one down. "Felicity" is nothing more than another wanna-be "Emmanuelle," but lacks the European style of those Italian and French cult films. The lead actress, played by Glory Annen is an absolute bore compared to Euro goddesses Laura Gemser and Sylvia Kristel. She is more of the plain, girl next door type, but perhaps this is deliberate? Penthouse bimbo Joni Flynn is a bit sexier, with a more exotic and Asian look, but gave the most hysterically bad acting performance i have ever witnessed. A sexy woman, maybe, but too cheap-looking, and dizzy to be taken seriously as Felicity's "sexual counselor." The men fare no better here. Felicity's love interest is an Aussie dude who is wearing more mascara than his female companion, and the actor is a little too old to play the part he is playing. And the guy who takes her virginity is a typical, oily creep of an older man. The worst thing of all, is the film seems somewhat racist; A white girl from Australia, travels to exotic Hong Kong, to have sexual encounters... with white people! What's wrong with Asians? She should have just stayed in Australia. What could have been a fascinating study of a young Western girl discovering the erotic mysteries of the Orient, turns out to be boring, typical exploitation, a film that is too timid to take any risks. But nothing is more miserable than the soundtrack, particularly the main theme, which is played over, and over, and over again; "She ain't Mama's little girl no more.." The only plus to this film is the beautiful Hong Kong scenery, which is the best thing this has to offer. Also, technically speaking, "Felicity" is a well-made film, and does feature some good erotic scenes. A missed opportunity, this could have been a classic in more competent hands.

Can that be considered a pun? If so that I would ask you to ... forgive me. As you may be able to forgive Felicity ... actually she doesn't need your forgiveness at all. She may need my puns ... nah she does not need those either. What she does need is ... well I think you know where this is going ... and who is coming? Yes another pun arrived.

One can say that this seems more than inspired by Emmanuelle. And while it is not direct copy it does have a lot of things you will recognize (like the chair and of course loads of nudity and sexual situations). I reckon the first "real" encounter, is not really pleasing for Felicity ... but she her curiosity has been awakened by that point. And there is no stopping now ... as a song would suggest.

The movie does have cliches in it and it is predictable. But it also is really well played. And while the exploitation tag may be deserved to a degree, there is more here than meets the eye (or any other body part for that matter, excuse the pun).

It does miss opportunities though. Like when she and a lover come out of the elevator and are asked "goind down", they could have said, "we just did" ... instead we get a corny "what a lovely couple" a few seconds later from the woman getting on the elevator (alone).

I watched the uncut version, apparently there was a version that was cut a bit. Funnily enough in its home country of Australia ... it had most of the issues there. Something that is being discussed in extreme length in deleted scenes from the great documentary "Not Quite Hollywood" - included on the disc version of this. Don't be easily offende ... and you'll enjoy what you are being served.

Felicity is essentially an Australian ripoff of Emmanuelle with a good measure of Histoire d'O, Fear Of Flying and the collected works of David Hamilton thrown in. The movie isn't exactly trying to hide its paragons -- instead when young Felicity witnesses a copulating couple on a jetliner (like in Emmanuelle), she describes this scene to a friend as "just like in that movie, Emmanuelle". In case anyone hadn't noticed.

Felicity is your average innocent finishing school girl (magna cum laude in "Ballet In Very Skimpy Costumes" and "Showering With The Gardener Getting A Good Shufti") on her odd trip to Southeast Asia to explore her sexuality. And get laid. This sounds like a movie which will just go through the motions, but the movie surprised me by being pretty good nevertheless. In fact, although Felicity follows the road most traveled and leaves out no softcore stereotype (including the sponge bath at a Chinese brothel (which in this case is partially staffed by blondes)), it's a rare case of a copy improving on the original.

Much of the accolade is due to the actress playing the heroine, Glory Annen. She's pretty and natural, and she plays the difficult role of the saucy ingénue with great aplomb and enthusiasm. I was especially impressed by her voiceovers, her husky voice is like aural Viagra. And dramatically she is well matched by her love interest, played by Chris Milne.

Unusually for a softcore movie, the story is surprisingly subtle and convincing, and at least gives some consideration to the female perspectice. It's obviously not exactly the DA Pennebaker type of realism, and I'd urge anyone watching this movie to use condoms for Christ's sake if you must have casual sex on a Chinese brothel junk, but Felicity does have bad experiences (a lousy "first time"), inhibitions and desires, and she wants to both have sex, and love and emotions.

What sets it even further apart from Emmanuelle is the omission of intellecto-philosophical blatherings and swinger-"what gives her pleasure gives me pleasure, especially if can have carnal knowledge of the crème of the crop of Thai prostitutes and their younger sisters in the meantime"-ideology. And whereas Emmanuelle is pretty much game for anything depraved old men are into, Felicity is slightly less kinky and make-believe; and also there are no rape scenes and dungeons.

Yep, you'll even be able to watch this with your girlfiend or wife without risking her mentioning it in the divorce proceedings one week later.